With the notification of the new Intermediary Guidelines 2021 (Information Technology [Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021] notified on 25th February 2021, the Digital Publication scenario in India has changed substantially.
It will take some time for the full impact of this Surgical strike by the joint operations of the Ministries of IT and I&B to sink in to the industry.
The changes will affect all the large Intermediaries like Twitter, FaceBook, YouTube, WhatsApp, Telegram etc., the emerging Indian companies like Koo, Tooter, Arattai, as well as a number of YouTube Channels such as Shekar Gupta’s Channel , The News Minute or other similar channels. The OTT Channels such as HotStar, ZeeTV, JioTV etc will all be coming within the provisions of the guidelines.
The compliance requirements in principle applies to any digital publication which has News content and therefore applicable to many blogs though by virtue of a smaller exposure they may not be coming directly under the definition of the “Significant Social Media Intermediary” or a “Publisher”.
The compliance requirements are not simple and will also need to incorporate a Grievance Redressal Mechanism.
Naavi has been operating the ODRGLOBAL.IN which is an online grievance redressal system and is ideally suited to be adopted for the requirements of this type. Naavi has also been engaged in ITA 2008 compliance as well as Personal Data Protection Compliance (GDPR, Indian PDPA etc).
Recognizing the needs of the Digital Media Publishers, Naavi has launched a new service namely “Digital Media Compliance Guidance Center” (DMCGC).
DMCGC will provide compliance consultancy to enable organizations maintaining news websites and news apps to maintain compliance as envisaged under the rules.
Non Compliance of the Intermediary guidelines would be like exposing the media organization to a volley of AK 47 bullets without as much of even a shirt to wear on, let alone a bullet proof vest.
The service would be provided through Ujvala Consultants Private Limited the Techno Legal compliance consultancy company.
Interested persons may contact Naavi through e-mail
Naavi
(More information will follow)
